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Four Members of Congress ask GAO for study on asylum fraud

Posted by Ann Corcoran on March 2, 2014

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) one of four Members looking for answers on the cost to the taxpayers of asylum fraud.

Last night I was going through news I’ve missed lately and found this excellent Newsmaxstory by Cheryl Chumley. Besides the encouraging news about a GAO study in the opening paragraphs, the article is a thorough source of information on what is happening with asylum and how asylees relate to resettled refugees.

Our present asylum system came out of the Refugee Act of 1980 (Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter), so refugee resettlement and asylum are two sides of the same coin. We, with the UN, select refugees and fly them here. Asylum seekers get into the US often illegally, or overstay a visa, and then ask for asylum. Once granted asylum, the asylee gets all the welfare goodies that refugees receive (and can avail themselves of the services of the contractors). See our fact sheet, here.

Although to be commended for asking for a GAO study, if Goodlatte, Gowdy and others really wanted to do something they would hold hearings on the entire Refugee Program with the eye to reforming it! (Never been done!)

Four Republican congressmen have asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the U.S. asylum process after a leaked Department of Homeland Security report showed that up to 70 percent of cases contained proven or possible fraud.

“Once individuals are granted asylum in the U.S., they become immediately eligible for all major federal welfare programs. And if, as it appears, asylum fraud is rampant in the system, American taxpayers could potentially be defrauded out of hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars each year,” House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia wrote to the GAO. [Letter is here—-ed]

Also signing the letter were House Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, and Reps. Lamar Smith of Texas and Jason Chaffetz of Utah.

“For years, there have been reports of abuse in the asylum program; we are troubled by a continued lack of appropriate oversight by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the component of the Department of Homeland Security that administers the asylum program,” Goodlatte said in an introduction to the letter.

Goodlatte referred to a report from DHS written in 2009 that was recently obtained by the House Judiciary Committee, revealing that 70 percent or more of affirmative asylum cases from 2005 showed signs of fraud.

Another GAO study

Speaking of GAO studies, a few years ago then Senator Lugar of Indiana requested a study on the Refugee Resettlement program that had overloaded the state of Indiana with needy third-worlders. That study produced some useful information, but I’m sure the resettlement industry just ignored it. Or worse, used it to demand more federal $$$ for resettlement in over-loaded communities.